So I decided to get a head start on next week by taking a good look through the Sedona Vortex Tarot. It uses collage-style art work mixing pieces of photographs, computer art (I think), paintings and cartoon-like drawings. Physically, the cards are rather large, about 6" tall by 4" wide (approx. 153 x 103 mm). The card stock feels a little thin, but I think they'll be useable.

There is also a fair number of very fine paper slivers; about the thickness of a very fine hair, scattered throughout the deck. You can feel these as you slide cards off of the deck as they roll between the two cards. I assume these are leftovers from the cutting process, but they are a slight annoyance as they're kind of getting everywhere. But I only feel them on the cards and only see them on the dark portions of the cards and the black of my laptop.

According to the VLWB ("very little white book" - it's only 7 pages), the cards are based in the RWS system, but the suit names are very different. The suits (with their RWS equivalent) are; Bell Rock (Swords), Cathedral Rock (Cups), Airport Mesa (Wands) and Boynton Canyon (Pentacles). So, while the suits have RWS equivalents, they may prove to be a bit of a challenge to remember their associations. Fortunately, many of the suit cards do have images that include things that will clue you in to the element - for example, the Two through the Ten of Cathedral Rock all have something watery in them. The Bell Rock suit feature images of birds and/or the sky. So, it may not be TOO difficult to work with the associations. There is also a "Vortex Map Card", which shows the general location of the vortices named in the deck and gives their RWS suit equivalents.

Another oddity of the deck is that some of the Minors have keywords at the top, while others do not. For example, the Ace and Two of Cathedral Rock do not have keywords, the Three through Ten do. The Ace, Two and Three of Bell Rock have no keywords, the Four, Five and Six do, and the Seven, Eight, Nine and Ten do not. So, it's rather hit or miss whether you'll have the benefit (or distraction) of a keyword on the card. None of the Court Cards, nor the Majors have keywords.

The write-ups of the individual cards in the LWB are quite short, just giving a few words about the meanings of the cards. Though, one can see the basic relation of most cards to the RWS. The organization of the LWB is also a little odd. It gives the Minors first, but clumps them by the number - so the 4 Aces are first, then the Twos, and so on. The section on the Majors is in the last part of the booklet. Justice is VIII and Strength at XI.

A few meanings are a little different, but interestingly have given me new things to contemplate on the cards in general. For example, for Strength, it reads; "Expressing yourself to the world instead of impressing the world." I thought that was pretty cool and it is in my journal now.

I do love the art so far. I have begun to become rather fond of my collage-style decks and find that they work well for me, so I am hopeful for this deck as well. I am looking forward to trying it out and will probably do a New Deck reading for it tomorrow.

I'm going to work with the Bonefire this week, at least for my daily draws! Hoping to get pleasantly reacquainted with it as I had an instant connection when I first got it. I'll also be working with the Oracle of the Unicorns again. I'm feeling very "love and light" lately so it's right up my alley

Had breakfast listening to Fortune's Wheelhouse podcast about the symbolism in RWS and Thoth Magician/Magus. (There's a thread about FW in the Books and Media forum) One of the presenters is the creator of the Tabula Mundi, so peripherally related to DotW.

Quote:

Originally Posted by CharlotteK

...I'm going to work with Tarot of the Spirit as it has a very new agey, meditative, self reflective and spiritual focus, which feels perfect for what I need right now.

Great description of that deck's focus. I'll admit I'm not personally a fan of the book (loved by many, though), but I do like to read with the deck! I hope you enjoy your week with it.

VGimlet, if you get a chance, could you swap out the Alchemist's Oracle for the Universe Cards for me? Thank you! I just realized I had recently used these, so I wanted to dust off one I haven't used in a while.

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